SPL: Rangers 1 Celtic 0

WHAT we needed yesterday at Ibrox was an Old Firm game that would be remembered forever for the football.

WHAT we needed yesterday at Ibrox was an Old Firm game that would be remembered forever for the football.

What we got was 90 minutes that would have been instantly forgettable were it not for the decisions made by a referee whose job was made almost impossible even before a ball had been kicked.

And then, right at the death, came the final killer blow for a Celtic side that had travelled across the Clyde promising big things but delivered nothing more than a reminder of why they are simply not title material.

Maurice Edu’s winner with the last kick of the ball in this dreary derby secured a victory for Rangers and – by manoeuvring them 10 points clear with a game in hand – pretty much wrapped up a second successive league crown.

It was the last act of a match that saw whistler Dougie McDonald chalk off an earlier strike from the boot of the same player, deny both sides a penalty apiece and also reduce Celtic to 10 men with a dubious red card for skipper Scott Brown.

But let’s get this right. It’s not the officials who have crippled Tony Mowbray’s SPL challenge. Celtic can look under every stone in their bid to find someone else to blame but the truth was staring them in the face yesterday and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

All they brought into this do-or-die derby was a sense of injustice and one almighty conspiracy theory. However, they forgot to bring with them a team capable of making a decent fist of the one game they could not afford to lose.

And Mowbray must be man enough to shoulder the responsibility for that instead of following the party line and pandering to those who wish to point to other more sinister reasons for the failings of his side – like bigmatch ref McDonald, for example.

The man in the middle was on a hiding to nothing from the minute Celtic chose to plant a story about their “concern” over the current standard of Scotland’s men in black.

And he performed with all the confidence and conviction of a man who knew the whole world would be watching and scrutinising his every call.

But although McDonald’s performance was error-strewn and riddled with nerves at least he was big enough to turn up for work. Not many of Mowbray’s players – including £65,000-a-week striker Robbie Keane – left Ibrox yesterday able to say the same.

In all his years of derby-day bedlam Rangers manager Walter Smith can rarely have experienced such a relatively stress-free afternoon, which really was bizarre given the urgency of Celtic’s plight.

Rangers were able to win this game without ever feeling stretched or even needing to find top gear. They opened up as if they meant to inflict serious damage on their visitors and in the opening three minutes the outstanding Kevin Thomson hurled himself into three ferocious and yet immaculate tackles – two of them on Keane and one on Aiden McGeady – that seemed to send out a message.

Certainly, Keane and McGeady were only seen in fleeting glimpses from that moment on while Thomson was the dominant figure in the thick of a midfield battle Rangers would eventually win hands down.

And it was from one of these crunching challenges that Kris Boyd ended up bursting through the heart of Celtic’s defence but although he rounded Artur Boruc he squeezed a shot into the side netting.

At the other end Madjid Bougherra went into the book soon after for chopping into Keane from behind but although there were still 85 minutes on the clock the Algerian – to the disgust of Celtic’s supporters – managed to avoid picking up a second yellow.

In fact, Bougherra committed several more offences, a few of them more meaty than his first, but he walked the fine line without toppling over and he too ended this match looking head and shoulders above the players who were up against him.

Bougherra and Davie Weir formed a rocksolid foundation for this latest smash-and-grab win and – just to stick a flame under Celtic’s simmering resentment – it was the defender who came loping forward in the dying seconds to play a huge part in Edu’s decisive goal.

But first the American would feel some injustice of his own just moments after replacing Lee McCulloch who had hobbled off midway through a fairly lethargic and limp-wristed first half.

Edu thought he had hit a stunning opener with his first kick when, after Celtic’s defence had failed to deal with a Steve Davis free-kick, he smashed his foot through the ball from 20 yards out and sent it crashing in off of Boruc’s left-hand post.

But that man McDonald stepped it off after spotting Kenny Miller handle ball just a split second before Edu had Celtic hollered for a penalty in the when Diomansy Kamara – another earner who failed to perform – went under a Bougherra challenge.

But McDonald waved play on and his heart was in his mouth by now the was getting through this by the seat his pants.

Rangers were gradually winning battles all over the pitch and ended strongly, even though Keane forced McGregor into a fantastic save with volley minutes before the interval.

This was Keane’s one and only significant contribution of the day. He spent the time being marshalled out of the contest Bougherra and by Weir in particular.

In fact, Rangers dominated the second pretty much in its entirety. They were denied their penalty in opening minutes when Edu was brought by Andreas Hinkel after Darren O’Dea - a first half sub for the injured Thoms Rogne - had executed a wonderful goal-saving challenge on Boyd.

But it was Celtic keeper Boruc who was doing most to keep Rangers at bay and the Pole pulled off a stunning double save to thwart Davis in 56 minutes as the champions pressed for the breakthrough.

McDonald, though, was not done yet. In 64 minutes the referee was back in the spotlight – thrusting a red card under the nose of Brown who had got himself needlessly involved in a shoving match with the hopelessly out-of-touch Kyle Lafferty.

Lafferty’s touch was so clumsy and ragged that he was offering nothing much more than nuisance value but that was enough for Brown, who grappled a little too aggressively with his man as the pair came together in the centre circle.

McDonald saw this flashpoint unfold from nearby and seemed to rush into making a decision.

Where a yellow card each would have sufficed, McDonald saw fit to produce just a single red and Brown’s first derby as Celtic captain was over – with a full 26 minutes to spare. Celtic's players had already been surrendering way too readily. With Brown gone the capitulation was complete.

In fact, it seemed as if Mowbray and his players would have been happy to escape with a point but in the final seconds Rangers sub Nacho Novo, who had replaced Lafferty and added a sense of genuine urgency, came scampering forward to set up a final flurry.

The ball broke to Sasa Papac, who forced Boruc into another good stop low at his right but from Thomson’s corner the winner would finally arrive.

Bougherra got forward to make a menace of himself and lashed a shot towards goal which Boruc saved with his chest.

The ball bobbled out to Boyd, who tried to nudge it home with a knee only for Boruc to throw up a hand and make another breathtaking stop.

As bodies piled in on top of him the keeper then attempted to sweep it to safety with an arm but Edu pounced to ram it home from close range.

All around, Rangers celebrated as if the title had been delivered. It hasn’t. Not yet anyway. But it won’t be long now.